Health Update: Male postnatal blues

MEN can have postnatal problems, too. A study at the Institute of Psychiatry, London, looked into the mental state of the partners of women with postnatal psychosis. It found that 50 per cent of these fathers were suffering from depression.

Even more disturbing, says Dr Simon Lovestone, who conducted the research, was the fact that among the control group of women not suffering from depression, 25 per cent had partners who were depressed. A man should not always be expected to be a support to the mother, he says in General Practitioner.